Saturday, November 5, 2016

Umno must dissociate from red-shirts, opposition MP urges

Umno must act to dissociate itself from the red-shirts, so that the party is not seen to be sponsoring the group led by Jamal Md Yunos, DAP's Klang MP Charles Santiago says.

"Why is it that the government is not doing anything about what he (Jamal) is doing?

"It's almost as if Jamal's got a free pass to do anything he wants. This is not acceptable anymore," Charles said.

"Umno must now disassociate itself from the red-shirts, otherwise the whole country and the international community will think that Umno is sponsoring the red-shirts," he told Malaysiakini after he joined Bersih in rallying support in Klang today.

Umno has consistently distanced itself from the red-shirts led by Jamal, who is Sungai Besar Umno division chief.

Jamal was also previously reported admitting that many red-shirts members are also Umno members, though he stressed that he was not representing the party.

Former Bersih chairperson Ambiga Sreenevasan slammed Umno's denial of its involvement with the red-shirts.

"People are not stupid. They (in Umno) can make these declarations.

"I judge them not by what they say, but by what they do... I don't believe them for one minute," Ambiga told Malaysiakini today.

Charles, meanwhile, strongly condemned the "climate of fear" that the red-shirts are creating in the country.

"If you hand this country into the hands of gangsters, then chaos will descend on this country.

"We cannot accept their bullying tactics," he said.

The red-shirts have proven to have a penchant for rowdiness, attacking Bersih supporters and roughing up journalists.

However Jamal has also shown that they can be civil, having peaceful gatherings in Kapar two weeks ago, and outside the Malaysiakini office on Thursday.- Mkini